Dollars make good bet on silver

We saw gold break the $1,000 level and silver fly through $16 and platinum tagged along. As of set-up day at the Long Beach Expo, gold was not able to hold $1,000. When gold originally broke above this level, silver hit $21, so that milky white metal may have room to go.

Silver prices have not affected the most common of the Morgan issues, namely the circulated 1921 (.7734 ounces) trio. Bids remain in the $14-$15 range. The Peace dollar group of nine, remains in the $13-$14 bid range for quantity. These are a good bet if you like silver as I do.

Premiums continue strong and stronger on common date U.S. type gold issues with noted narrowing of the spreads between grades on many. This is an indication that the market is being pushed from the bottom up. In other words stronger demand for the cheaper (lower grade) issues keeps pushing the prices towards the higher grades, while the higher grades remain constant or rise less than the lower grades. Theoretically, the higher grade presents less risk in this case.

The market for mint and proof sets remains constant with several increases on the lower priced sets in both.

At Long Beach activity on set-up day other than type gold seems quiet. Dealer attendance is down by half a dozen.

E-mail harrymkrause@optonline.net.